Sunday 21 October 2012

Daylilies



Lambertson '98 [Druid's Chant x Sea Urchin] 5.5" Semi. Ev. Re. Em. 27" Tet. A beautiful blue lavender with a white star burst coming out of a green throat and gold edging. Great parent, producing sharks tooth edging. 

“Sandy Denny” is a variety of daylily (hemerocallis) hybridized by Ludlow Lambertson in 1998. Luddy and his wife Rachel describe themselves as “huge fans of both Sandy and Fairport Convention”, hence the choice of name. Rachel sings; Ludlow is the hybridizer; both are painters. Based at Lake Helen, Florida, they open their garden to the public during daylily bloom season, which runs from May to June (details on their website at Art Gallery Gardens). What you won’t find on display, alas, is the “Sandy Denny” bloom. They no longer have it. And nor does anyone else, as far as I can establish. A website in Canada, Rural Roots Gardens, purports to offer it for sale, but the illustration is incorrect (it shows another of Lambertson’s hybrids, “Do The Twist”) and my enquiries have gone unanswered.

Some years ago a horticulturalist in south London contacted me, saying she was planning to import “Sandy Denny”. I met her when she came to the Troubadour tribute in 2008, but failed to keep in touch, alas. I wonder if she succeeded?

Kyle Orosz, who designed the authoritative Sandy website at www.sandydenny.org.uk, incorporated the flower into his illustrations.

Do we know any more about this elusive bloom?

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have put a call out on a gardening forum I am a member of to see if anyone can help.
Regards, "The Gremlin"

Philip Ward said...

Thanks, Mr Gremlin. Let us know if anything emerges.

Rachel Lambertson said...

In fall 2014 we managed to get a small clump of our daylily SANDY DENNY from someone who had been growing it and have planted it in our garden Art Gallery Gardens, with hopes that we can multiply it again. JUST as I cannot bear to stop singing Sandy's songs.. we were not happy having her namesake daylily absent from our garden! written by Rachel

Rachel Lambertson said...

In fall 2014 we received a small clump of our daylily SANDY DENNY back from someone in the U.S. who was still growing it and we hope to multiply it again in our garden.
Just as I cannot bear to stop singing Sandy's songs, my husband and I were not happy without this remembrance of Sandy growing in our garden whence it originated…

Philip Ward said...

Great news, Rachel! Keep us informed of progress. Best, Philip.

Rachel Lambertson said...

Hi Phillip, Sorry for posting twice, wasn't certain the first one had gone through. We should see some bloom from our flower in MAY which is daylily season here in Florida. I'll try to send some photos!

Philip Ward said...

I see that another of my favourite singer-songwriters, Laura Nyro, also has a daylily named after her: http://www.daylilies.org/DaylilyDB/detail.php?id=46941